Cardiff Hotel shortlisted for tourism award

A 4* star hotel in Cardiff has been shortlisted for the prestigious National Tourism Awards for Wales.

The Radisson Blu Hotel has been shortlisted in the ‘Business Tourism Operator’ category having grown revenue from this sector by 66% in the last year.

With 215 bedrooms, of which 25 are Business Class, and six state-of-the-art meeting rooms which boast conference and event facilities for up to 300 people, the hotel’s corporate facilities, packages and city centre location has contributed to its success as a business tourism operator.

Jens Hallman, General Manager at the Radisson Blu, said: “We are thrilled to have been shortlisted for the ‘Business Tourism Operator’ category. The National Tourism Awards are extremely competitive and prestigious and it is a great achievement that we have reached the shortlisted stage for our category. We are looking forward to the awards ceremony in November and we’re keeping our fingers crossed that we win!”

Over 420 applications were made for the 19 National Tourism Award categories that will name the Best Place to Eat, the Best Place to Stay, the Best Visitor Experience and the Regional Tourism Awards, among others.

The awards are staged by Visit Wales, in partnership with the Wales Tourism Alliance and in commercial partnership with Quadrant Media and Communications, to recognise and reward the very best in Welsh tourism.

In total, there are 15 businesses short-listed from the Capital Region, which covers South East Wales, 12 from mid Wales, 16 from North Wales and 16 from South West Wales.

The short-listed businesses were officially announced this week at the launch of the new tourism strategy for Wales by Minister for Economy, Science and Transport, Edwina Hart. The strategy ‘Partnership for Growth’ has set the vision for the industry and Welsh Government to work in partnership to increase visitor spend to Wales.

The Minister said: “It’s fantastic to see such a high number of entries for this year’s National Tourism Awards for Wales. What’s more, the quality of those entries was outstanding. We are very fortunate in Wales to have a tourism sector of such high calibre. The shortlisted businesses are prime examples of quality businesses, helping to drive higher tourism earnings for the Welsh economy. We look forward to unveiling the winners in November.”

A panel of independent judges whittled down all entries into the announced shortlist. The finalists from that shortlist will be unveiled at the National Tourism Awards for Wales awards ceremony at Venue Cymru in Llandudno on 21 November 2013, where the overall winners will be crowned.